Video

Share

Info

Sitting Bull and the Lakotas' Last Stand

In this video adapted from American Experience, learn about Sitting Bull, the charismatic leader of the Lakota Sioux Nation. Sitting Bull had already been acknowledged for his bravery and spirituality for over a decade when he led his forces to victory in the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand. The victory was short-lived, however, as U.S. forces quickly decimated the Indians and Sitting Bull was forced to retreat to Canada.

Background color

Window color

Text Opacity

Background Opacity

Window Opacity

Here are suggested ways to engage students with this video and with activities related to this topic.

Research project—group or individual: Have students research and report on the development and rationale of the policy that placed American Indian populations on reservations.

Research project—group or individual: Have students research and report on the way in which news about conditions and activities in the western U.S. were reported to Americans living in the East, with special emphasis on how Sitting Bull became famous.

Research project—group or individual: Have students research and report on the image of American Indians among American citizens in the late 1800s and how that image influenced U.S. policy. Have them pay particular attention to why, as the film states, many Americans did not believe that Sitting Bull was a Lakota Sioux.

Research project—group or individual: Have students research and report on the purpose of treaties and how they are negotiated. Who is responsible for maintaining and monitoring the terms of a treaty? When would it be acceptable to break the terms of a treaty? Have a general discussion, but pay particular attention to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, including its terms and the violations that occurred.

As a child, the American Indian who would eventually be known as Sitting Bull (c. 1831–1890) was given the name "Slow" because of his lack of skills. By the age of 14, however, his success in hunting buffalo and participating in war parties had earned him a new name, which is a translation of the Sioux Tatanka-Iyotanka. As an adult, Sitting Bull became dedicated to opposing attempts by the U.S. Army to take Indian lands and took part in an 1865 attack on Fort Rice, in what is now North Dakota. His bravery in this and other battles allowed him to rise to chief of the Lakota Sioux Nation in 1868.

Sitting Bull's greatest success came as a result of U.S. efforts to claim land in the Black Hills of South Dakota that had been granted to the Sioux under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. This land, which was sacred ground to the Lakota Sioux, came into dispute after an 1874 expedition led by General George Custer found gold there. An initial offer to purchase the Black Hills was rejected by the Sioux, who chose to defend the sacred land against U.S. incursion. At a Sioux dance ceremony in June 1876, Sitting Bull danced for 36 consecutive hours and had a vision of his forces defeating the U.S. Army. The vision proved accurate later that month, as a result of Custer's decision to divide his already outnumbered troops into three separate forces. Sitting Bull then killed all 260 of Custer's remaining soldiers in the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand.

In truth, however, the battle was in effect Sitting Bull's last stand. The U.S. responded by sending additional forces to defeat the Indians and force them onto reservations and then formally took the Black Hills back under a congressional act in 1877 that rescinded the Fort Laramie Treaty. Sitting Bull retreated to Canada, where he remained until he returned to the Dakota Territory in1881. He was then captured and imprisoned for two years. Upon his release, a friendship with the sharpshooter Annie Oakley led him to briefly perform in the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show; however, he quickly left after declaring that he would "rather die an Indian than live a white man." Sitting Bull's participation in an 1889 Ghost Dance, intended to rid Indian land of white people, brought him to the attention of U.S. officials once again, and he was killed in a gunfight while resisting arrest in 1890.

The Lakota Sioux Nation continued to press its claim for the Black Hills in a controversy that lasted for over a century. In 1980, the United States Supreme Court declared that the territory had been taken from the Sioux improperly and awarded the tribe $100 million in damages. In 2012, the Lakota were finally able to repurchase the land from its owners at the time for $9 million.